Friday, December 30, 2005

Our pal Tim Driscoll of Grand Forks, ND, sent me this image of a great gray owl, one he saw on a recent trip to Beltrami State Forest in NW Minnesota. This is the same place that Tim, Julie, and I, and a handful of other birders (including Patti Alleva, and Dave and Cec Lambeth) visited last June seeking life birds.

I was hoping (in June) for five possible lifers: great gray owl, Connecticut warbler (my total jinx bird for a decade), three-toed woodpecker, black-backed woodpecker, and spruce grouse. We dipped out on all five, though we heard a few CT warblers singing.

So good old Tim is "kind" enough to send me a note when he sees any of my most-wanted birds, including this lovely great gray. Last summer he sent me two notes about Connecticut warblers he'd seen.

Perhaps I am not meant to see any more birds in this lifetime.....yeah right!I... am...fighting....the....urge....to......drive.....north.......

About Bill

Bill of the Birds

Bill Thompson III is the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest by day. He's also a keen birder, the author of many books, a dad, a field trip leader, an ecotourism consultant, a guitar player, the host of the "This Birding Life" podcast, a regular speaker/performer on the birding festival circuit, a gentleman farmer, and a fungi to be around. His North American life list is somewhere between 673 and 675. His favorite bird is the red-headed woodpecker. His "spark bird" was a snowy owl. He has watched birds in 25 countries and 44 states. But his favorite place to watch birds is on the 80-acre farm he shares with his wife, artist/writer Julie Zickefoose. Some kind person once called Bill "The Pied Piper of Birding" and he has been trying to live up to that moniker ever since.